The Youth Ledger

In this solo episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar breaks down this week’s most important global developments, from the Senate’s high-stakes battle over the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and major defense pledges at the NATO Summit, to a new U.S.–China rare earths trade deal and the economic toll of record-breaking North American heat waves. Plus, we unpack renewed Canada–U.S. trade talks and what these moves mean for policy,...

In this episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar interviews Anirudh Mazumder, a rising Stanford student whose work spans artificial intelligence, healthcare innovation, and public policy. From conducting medical AI research at Harvard and Stanford AIMI to co-founding KidneyChain and building FuturaSustain, Anirudh shares how he’s using technology to solve real-world problems. He also reflects on the impact of programs like ...

In this episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar breaks down a week of rising global tension—from Iran’s threats to close the Strait of Hormuz to volatile oil prices, Fed caution, and mass protests in the U.S. and Turkey. With energy markets rattled and central banks freezing rate cuts, the world economy hangs in a delicate balance. Shiven unpacks what these developments mean for inflation, global stability, and everyday li...

In this episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar sits down with nonprofit leader Tricia Medrano Bridges to explore the story behind Chiapas International—a groundbreaking initiative that helped raise over $6 million in microloans for women across Latin America. Tricia shares how she partnered with the Grameen Foundation, worked in countries like Mexico, El Salvador, and Haiti, and saw firsthand how financial empowerment cre...

In this episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar breaks down the rising tensions between Israel and Iran and their ripple effects across oil markets, inflation, and global diplomacy. From the cautious stances of the European Central Bank and Bank of England to the World Bank’s grim global growth forecast, this episode connects the dots between geopolitics and economics in real time. Shiven also explores how conflict drives ...

In this episode of The Youth Ledger, host Shiven Diwakar sits down with Eli Lehrer, president of the R Street Institute, to explore how free markets can solve public problems, from climate change and crop insurance to online speech and AI innovation. With decades of experience in public policy and think tank leadership, Mr. Lehrer brings a unique libertarian-conservative lens to topics like federal disaster relief, government overr...